Punjab reeling under power cuts

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Chandigarh, Jul 7: Consumers in Punjab are facing one of the worst power crisis situations in the state even during the ongoing rainy season, as the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has imposed power cuts up to six hours per day, due to the severe shortage of supply.

Even after utilising all its resources, PSEB has been able to supply only 1,500 lakh units (LU) per day against the every day's total demand of 1,700 LU, a PSEB official said.

“The sign of improvement in the power situation is not visible, at least in near future in view of the unavailability of power,”remarked a senior official of PSEB.

The problem of power shortage has mainly arose because of the closure of power generating unit of Mukerian and unit number five of Ropar power plant.

“The water discharge from Pong dam to Mukerian plant has been discontinued, which has led to loss of 50 LU. Moreover, the closure of Ropar plant has also caused shortage of 50 LU,” a senior official revealed.

In addition to it, Punjab is also not getting its share from NTPC project in Sangrauli and Rihand in Uttar Pradesh because of reduction in power generation in these units due to wet coal. “We are facing loss of 30 to 40 LU of power because of dip in NTPC power generation project,” he said.

PSEB has also blamed BHEL for not commissioning the 300 MW Lehra Mohabbat phase IV project and failing to fully operationalise the phase III of the same project. “We are getting just 30-35 LU per day from phase III project against the proposed supply of 120 LU units,” an official said.